Metropolitan of the UOC-MP sentenced for inciting religious hatred

Metropolitan Makarivsky, vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC-MP, Antony Fialko, received a court verdict in the case of inciting religious enmity and hatred.

The court found the clergyman guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison, but released him from serving the sentence with a probationary period of two years. The metropolitan was also banned from holding leadership positions in religious departments and dioceses for two years.

As follows from the case materials, the verdict concerns the events of May 2022, when Antony headed the Khmelnytsky and Shepetiv dioceses of the UOC-MP. During a sermon in a temple in Khmelnytsky, the metropolitan called on parishioners to “take up pitchforks, rakes and sticks” in case of attempts to transfer temples to the OCU. A video with a fragment of the sermon was distributed on social networks.

In court, the clergyman pleaded not guilty. He stated that he did not remember the details of the service after a long time, and also suggested that the video could have been created or edited using artificial intelligence.

However, the court found these arguments untenable. The verdict states that the video was made public in May 2022 — before the official launch of the relevant AI services in Ukraine. In addition, the metropolitan’s guilt was confirmed by witnesses and experts who recorded signs of calls for religious hatred and violent actions against representatives of other faiths in his statements.

The court also imposed on the accused the obligation to notify the probation agency of a change of residence and not to travel outside Ukraine without consent.

It is known that after the scandal surrounding the sermon in 2023, the Holy Synod of the UOC-MP dismissed Metropolitan Anthony from the position of head of the Khmelnytskyi eparchy and transferred him to the position of vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis.